Rep. Jayapal threatened at home; suspect faces charge of hate crime

(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

What’s a defund-the-police kind of progressive to do when a threat on her life appears in front of her house? She calls the police, of course. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a member of the House who frequently aligns herself with The Squad, was allegedly threatened at her home in Seattle on Saturday night. A 48-year-old South Seattle man was arrested on suspicion of a hate crime. He allegedly threatened to kill her and he also yelled at her to go back to India.

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The man, who lives a half-mile away from Jayapal and her husband, told police he knows who lives in the house and he wanted to pitch a tent in the yard. Jayapal came to the United States from India when she was 16 years old to attend Georgetown University.

Seattle police arrested the man outside Jayapal’s house at 11:25 p.m. Saturday after she called 911 and reported an unknown person or people were in a vehicle outside, using obscene language, according to a probable cause statement. She told a dispatcher her husband thought someone may have fired a pellet gun, but he wasn’t sure, the statement says.

Officers found the man standing in the middle of the street with his hands in the air and a .40-caliber handgun holstered on his waist, the probable cause statement says. Police detained the man and secured the gun.

A neighbor told police she heard the man yell something to the effect of, “Go back to India, I’m going to kill you,” the statement says. The neighbor also saw and heard the man drive by Jayapal’s residence at least three times, yelling profanities, according to the statement.

That would be scary. A wacko standing outside a private home yelling at its occupant and making a death threat late into a Saturday night would be cause for alarm for anyone. Naturally, the first inclination would be to call the police department. This is Rep. Jayapal, though, so it is necessary to point out the hypocrisy of a person who freely encourages defunding the police by picking up a phone and calling on the police when she feels threatened. Jayapal says she isn’t a member of the defund the police squad because she gives a more nuanced answer to the question. She supports “shifting significant resources from law enforcement and investing in people.” Call it what she will, that’s defunding the police. If she supports taking money away from the police department and moving that money into social services, that is defunding the police. In 2020 she was supportive of taking money from police departments and giving it to working on the city’s homeless problem.

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Criminal charges are expected to be filed on Wednesday. Look for it to involve a hate crime charge.

Under state law, a hate crime — formerly called malicious harassment — is a Class C felony defined as intentionally injuring, damaging property or threatening someone because of their perception of the victim’s race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation or mental, physical or sensory disability.

A spokesperson for Jayapal released a statement after the incident.

A spokesperson for Jayapal released a statement, which confirmed she was at home during the incident and read in part: “The Congresswoman and her family are safe and appreciate the many calls and good wishes she is receiving from constituents. She is very grateful for the swift and professional response from the Seattle Police Department, the U.S. Capitol Police, and the FBI investigators who are working together diligently on the investigation and ensuring that she and her family stay safe.”

I do hope she and her family remain safe. I also hope that Justice Kavanaugh and his family remain safe. We are told that protests and invasion of privacy are just part of the gig, though, for elected officials and Supreme Court justices by the White House press secretary. Protesters are just mad, Karine Jean-Pierre tells the only reporter willing to ask a question about the treatment of Kavanaugh by disgruntled progressives. The DOJ refuses to enforce federal law that bans protesting in front of a justice’s house. It’s what this administration does – they turn a blind eye to actions that otherwise would not be acceptable. President Norms is fine with progressives destroying American institutions. He said he wants to be a transformative president (though he has no such mandate) when he came into office. Apparently, destroying America is how he begins the transformation. He’s already erased the southern border. He’s working on the judicial system now.

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Ed Morrissey 10:00 PM | November 22, 2024
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